Monday, January 30, 2006

Sunflowers vs. AIDS

At the University of Bonn, ag engineers and biotech scientists believe they have uncovered an antibody in sunflowers that can prevent the spread of HIV, which causes AIDS.

“White stem rot” is deadly to most sunflowers, but some plants manage to fight off the disease, thanks to their production of “dicaffeoyl quinic acid.” This same compound, “can prevent the HI virus from reproducing, at least in cell cultures,” says Claudio Cerboncini, of the Caesar research center. At this point, no one knows whether this sunflower antibody will combat the AIDS virus in a clinical setting. But the researchers have said this compound may open the way for a whole new class of drugs, with fewer side effects.

Medical science already had known of dicaffeoyl quinic acid but until this finding, the compound was thought to be too rare and expensive to warrant further trials. “By using the Bonn method it could probably be produced for a fraction of the costs.”